Amazon lands exclusive 'Downton Abbey' stream deal

SaabiraChaudhuri

Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN, -0.67%
has struck a content-licensing agreement with PBS Distribution, making its Prime Instant Video the exclusive subscription home for streaming the television series "Downton Abbey."

Seasons 1 and 2 of the series are available on Prime Instant Video. According to Amazon, they are the service's most-watched TV seasons of all time.

Beginning June 18, Amazon's prime video service will be the exclusive subscription service for streaming the new third season of "Downton Abbey," and later this year, no digital subscription service other than Prime will offer any seasons of the show, which premiered in January 2011.

Amazon also said Prime will continue to be the TV show's exclusive subscription home through the fourth season and, if produced, the fifth.

The first season of "Downton Abbey" is available to be streamed on rival Netflix Inc.'s
NFLX, -0.82%
website.

Earlier Friday, Netflix said it would make the first episode of its political drama series "House of Cards" available for free as the online video streaming and DVD rental company looks to hook new users with its first big venture into original programming.

Netflix currently has the dominant status in media streaming, but analysts have warned this could soon give way to a more-competitive--and less-profitable--environment, as online rivals like Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN, -0.67%
have quickly added more content of their own.

Amazon has been making huge investments to secure its future--including building out new fulfillment centers to speed up shipments to customers, rapidly expanding its Prime video-streaming service and cultivating its line of Kindle tablets--leading the company's profits to shrink for several quarters.

Earlier this week, the Internet retail company said its fourth-quarter profit shrank 45% as it saw a substantial rise in revenue during the crucial holiday season, but sales gains were hampered again by its big push to expand.

Shares of Amazon were recently up by 70 cents at $266.20 in recent trading. The stock has risen 48% in the past 12 months.

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